GG Raleigh event review

[Josh@Ridetech]

Although the weather made everyone a bit skeptical, this first year show was a success! We had a good crowd and alot of nice cars driving through.

Friday started off a bit rainy but when the action got started in the afternoon, Bret Voelkel in the RideTech 69 Mustang and Chris Smith in the 48 Hour Corvette immediately put down the fast laps. At the end of Friday the Corvette developed an engine miss that was ultimately diagnosed as a bad lifter. Smitty and the rest of the RideTech team spent most of Friday evening resolving that issue in order to make the call on Saturday morning. Saturday’s weather was hot and sunny making for a more challenging track surface but the RideTech cars remained near the top of the leader board.

The weather was looking much worse on Sunday but the competition was completed by 11:00 AM with Kyle Tucker taking the top spot and Chris Smith and the RideTech 48 Hour Corvette placing 2nd and thereby winning the invitation to the year end Scottsdale “Duel in the Desert” autocross shootout. Bret Voelkel in the RideTech 69 Mustang finished 4th.

Smitty had this to say about the weekend’s results: "All the work everyone has put into this Corvette is showing every weekend. The car continues to get faster and faster. We just locked in our spot for Scottsdale and we haven't even turned this animal up yet. This is the year of the Corvette!"

The weekend was not all smiles and sunshine, but with the team's strong determination and help from a few others in the sport and industry, we persevered. When Bret Voelkel was asked about Raleigh and the weekend’s outcome he said: " The Corvette and the Mustang were welcomed with a huge amount of enthusiasm at Raleigh…I’m glad we could perform up to expectations. As with any high performance car, there were some significant challenges to overcome this weekend…our heroes among heroes at Raleigh were Lokar, MSD, Tim McGilton, and Chris Smith for keeping the Corvette up and running!"

Chris Smith will be running the 48 Hour Corvette this coming weekend in Kissimmee at the Goodguys' 2nd Annual Florida Nationals.

Chris & Bret were not the only successful RideTech Nation members this weekend. RideTech Shocks and Falken tires were on 4 of the top 5 in the Pro Class including Rob MacGregor's "Hellboy" C10 and Keith Corrigan's "Velocity" Camaro.

Chris Smith laying the hammer down in the RideTech 48 Hour Corvette. Fastest Musclecar of the weekend!


Rob MacGregor in the No Limit Hellboy C10 fished 3rd in the Pro Class.


The RideTech 69 Mustang takes 4th place in Pro Class. Bret Voelkel proving Air Suspension is highly capable 19 years in a row!


Keith Corrigan in the "Velocity" Camaro quickly rising through the field with a 5th place Pro Class finish.


Mike Holdren's 53 Buick was the heaviest car competing over the weekend. He led the HotRod Class most of the weekend until a light 33 ford kit car pushed him down to second


Mike Holleman sat in 1st place in the Truck class all day Friday but missed the rest of the weekend due to illness. He ended up in 2nd but we believe that wouldn't have been the case if he would of been on track Sunday morning.